The Riley Elevated Railway System Boston: W. S. Best & Co., printer for The Riley Railway Construction Company, 1887. First Edition. Thick card bound with two brass clasps. Very Good. A rare piece of illustrated Bostoniana and railroad ephemera. Including several items, for this was a working set of documents at one time. The primary document, carrying the title given above, is a prospectus for a proposed subway system to run through Boston. Also included are a 19 page transcript of an 1891 meeting considering this proposed system, and two other prior reports. The prospectus is oblong, 11 by 14 inches, 28 by 36 cm. Unpaginated. Seven leaves of text, 32 plates. A promotional brochure for a proposed elevated railway system to run through Boston. The Riley system was a single post system; in other words, the tracks would be held aloft by a single post, much like a monorail. The brochure boasts how this system is economical, allows for greater light, and lends itself to being dressed up ornamentally. For Boston, the system offered the advantage of being well-suited to the narrower streets. Also, as a system run on electricity, it would offer advantages of cleanliness and quiet. At the time of this proposal, Boston had only horse-drawn streetcar lines. This company lost out on its bid for the electrical system to Thomson-Houston, and little was heard of the company afterward, meaning it soon went out of business. Still, the prospectus offers a great glimpse at a piece of transportation history.Of the 32 plates, six picture the system running through city streets, the seaside or a mountainous location.The remainder of the plates show the cars, including are more technical drawings of the system itself, including a cross-section of the railway cars themselves. A few closed tears of the leaves. The wraps have soiling, with scuff marks and a small hole on the spine.

Riviere, Henri; Theatre Chat Noir; Albert Tinchant; Georges Fragerolle; [Gustave Flaubert]La Tentation de Saint Antoine: Feerie a grande spectacle. en 2 actes et 40 tableaux. Par Henri Riviere. Representee pour la premiere fois sur le theatre du Chat Noir le 28 decembre 1887. Musique nouvelle et arrangee de MM. Albert Tinchant et Georges Fragerolle Paris: E. Plon, Nourrit et Cie, Imprimeurs-Editeurs, 1887. First edition. Hardcover. Near Fine. Oblong small 4to, original color printed cloth-covered boards, original pale-blue endpapers, all edges stained red; pp. 87, [1], with lithographic music staves (in b/w) and illustrations (in full color) throughout. Boards uniformly foxed and stained, though still attractive, and internally bright and pristine. In 1887, Henri Riviere revolutionized George Auriol and Henry Somm&#39;s puppet theater, which had originated on the Chat Noir&#39;s third-floor "Salle des Fetes" in 1855. His new and revolutionary "shadow theatre" involved the use of silhouettes combined with the latest photomechanical relief-printing processes. With a 1.12- x 1.4-meter screen and an immrense backstage attached to the outside of the building, layers upon layers of visual material created perspective and, with the addition of glass painted panels, lighting, music, and voice, combined for an effect that was innovative and "Modern" in the most contemporary sense of the word. The haut-monde trouped to see it. LA TENTATION DE SAINT ANTOINE was the Chat Noir&#39;s first major shadow theatre production, premiering on the 28th of December, 1887, and over time became one of its three most-popular billings. "Protocinematic" (per later analysts), the Chat Noir productions were viewed by thousands upon thousands of people, from all walks of like (over the years, everyone came: Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Pissarro, Monet, Casset, and the rest). This commemorative album is, well: Stunning. All we can say.

MATHEWS, [A.] H. (Publisher).MATHEWS' SCENES AND CHARACTERS IN THE FLOATING BEACON OR THE NORWEGIAN WRECKERS. Together with a copy of the playscript. Acton: H. Mathews -1901 1887 - 16 hand-coloured lithographs (172x212mm approx), comprising 6 sheets of characters, 7 scenes and 3 wings, wanting a drop sheet. Some slight soiling of the first sheet and a little fraying of the edges here and there, but generally a most acceptable near-complete set; together with an 8 page playscript (carrying a dated advert for 1901) unopened in original self-wrappers, the whole preserved in a modern custom-made envelope chemise. Please note that the advised postage is based on an average book, if necessary the postage will be reduced to the correct amount and you will be notified by email. [Attributes: Soft Cover]

GAUTIER, Théophile.Mademoiselle de Maupin. A Romance of Love and Passion. Illustrated with Seventeen Etching by Champollion from Designs by Toudouze. London: Vizetelly & Co., 1887 - Octavo. Publisher's brown cloth, titles and illustrated designs to spine and upper board in gilt and brown, blind rules and publisher's insignia stamped to rear board, green endpapers. Spine rolled, extremities rubbed, hinges a little weak, front free endpaper starting loose. A very good copy, attractive withal. 2 pages of advertisements at the front. Illustrated plates, illustrated title page and coloured vignettes in the text. First English edition. First published in Paris in 1835, Gautier's most famous novel, a romance based on the life of a French swords-woman who disguised herself as a man, is the most striking example of literary interest in indeterminate gender and sexuality of that era.

BULLER, Sir Walter Lowry [1838-1906]A History Of The Birds Of New Zealand London: Published (For The Subscribers) By The Author, [1887]-1888. Second Edition, Substantially Revised and Enlarged. A classic of ornithological literature and the leading authority on New Zealand birds, the plates ranking amongst Keulemans&#146; finest. &#147;The text gives a complete synomy for each species, describes both sexes and every condition of plumage, and tells the life-history of each bird from personal observations made by the author during a period of twenty years.&#148; (Anker) 1,000 copies were printed by subscription, of which only about 250 were available for Europe and America. A two-volume supplement, not present here, was published in 1905. Anker 85. Bagnall 757. Fine Bird Books p. 64. Hocken pp. 386-87. Jackson p. 91. Nissen IVB 163. Casey Wood p. 269. Zimmer p. 115. 2 Volumes. imperial 4to. pp. lxxxiv, 250, [6]; xv, 359. 50 lithographed plates (incl. 48 chromolithographs) after drawings by J.G.Keulemans. numerous wood engravings in the text. original gilt-stamped quarter roan over gilt-stamped cloth sides, all edges gilt, rebacked with spines mounted (light foxing to first few leaves in each vol.)

Charles DickensA Christmas Carol ( In Prose Being a Ghost Story of Christmas ) Samuel E. Cassino, Boston 1887 - Shelf 1051 The classic Christmas story; illustrated by Gaugengigl and Chominski; gilt to top edge of paper; some limited areas of light soiling and few marks on the covers and spine; gilt stamped; 121 pages; tipped-in frontispiece protrait of Dickens with tissue guard; original two tone with holly and ivy in relief to front cover; 23 large black and white plates on heavy paper with no text on back side; embossed faux vellum spine; text clean; a rare item; No previous owner name, no marks, no underlining, not ex library, not price clipped, not a remainder, not a book club copy. [Attributes: Hard Cover]

ROBERTS, DavidThe Holy Land Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co., London, Paris & New York, , [1887]. After lithographs by Louis Haghe. From Original Drawings &#133; With Historical Descriptions by the Rev. George Croly, LL.D. Quarto, in three parts, with divisional titles. Publisher&#39;s blue-green cloth, pictorial front cover in gilt and dark red, spine lettered gilt and with floral decoration in dark red, rear cover with floral design blocked in blind, black endpapers, gilt edges. With 120 plates from drawings by David Roberts. Cloth cover slightly soiled with bumping to edges and some rubbing to ends of spine and corners, repair to front inner hinge, minor occasional foxing otherwise in very good condition. A handsome late Victorian reprint of Roberts&#39;s Holy Land, in three parts: division I, Jerusalem and Galilee; division II, the Jordan and Bethlehem; division III, Idumea and Petra. The plates are reproduced from the new edition of 1855, printed with one tint.

Atkinson, Alatau TamchiboulacGynberg Ballads San Francisco, CA: Schmidt Lithograph, 1887. 24 pages in pamphlet format. All pages are present although the rear wrapper is missing. 8.4 x 5.4 inches. Light pink front paper wrapper, with elaborate lettering and design in dark blue. Almost no soiling to the wrapper. Delightfully droll vignette illustrations in color throughout. Off-setting from some of the illustrations. Very minor foxing to the preliminaries. Regarding persons parodied or referenced in the publication, approximately seven people are identified by name in light pencil. Else a clean copy, inside and out. A Good Plus copy. Extremely rare pamphlet of humorous verse parodying the reign of Kalakaua. Available auction records indicate that only one copy has ever come up at auction in the last 30 years. Printed in San Francisco and shipped to the Islands, the arrival of the pamphlets and their subsequent seizure led to a legal struggle between Atkinson and the Collector of Customs, A. S. Cleghorn. "The subjects include the opium license scandal, the &#39;Historical Procession&#39; that had been a feature of Kalakaua&#39;s Jubilee celebration of 1886, and the voyage of the Kaimiloa to Somoa.". First Edition. Pamphlet. Good Plus. 8vo - over 7Â¾" - 9Â¾" tall.

SHORT, Edward Morrison de Courcy (b. 1857)Two Finely Executed Pencil Drawings of Colombo, Ceylon]. 1887 - 1887. Recently matted, the drawings are in fine condition. The two drawings are: Breakwater - Colombo - Ceylon ca. 10,5x19 cm (4 x 7 ½ in); Harbour - Colombo - Ceylon ca. 11x19 cm (4 x 7 ½ in). "Although the British captured Colombo in 1796, it remained a British military outpost until the Kandyan Kingdom was ceded to them in 1815 and they made Colombo the capital of their newly created crown colony of British Ceylon. Unlike the Portuguese and Dutch before them, whose primary use of Colombo was as a military fort, the British began constructing houses and other civilian structures around the fort, giving rise to the current City of Colombo" (Wikipedia). Two views of Colombo, Ceylon, are from an album of "Sketches made on a trip Round the World." By Edward Morrison de Courcy Short, who attended Charterhouse School, Surrey (1870-6). He passed the Ceylon Civil Service exam in 1878, and in 1905 became Chairman of the Municipal Council and Mayor of Colombo, retiring in 1910. List of Carthusians, 1800-1879, by W.D. Parrish.

Hume, FergusThe Mystery of a Hansom Cab Hansom Cab Publishing Company, London 1887 - 2nd Impression November 1987. One Hundred and Twenty-Fifth Thousand. Book remains very tight and clean. Wrapper is worn with closed tears and some small missing sections [Attributes: Soft Cover]

BOTKE, CornelisFish Wharf, Morro Bay - Approximately 10-1/4 x 9-3/4 inches image area. Etching and drypoint. Signed in pencil lower right. No. 15 of 50 impressions. Cornelis Botke was born in Leewarden, Holland in 1887. He studied at the School of Applied Design in Haarlem before emigrating the United States in 1906, settling in Chicago. There he studied at the Chicago Art Institute. With fellow artist and new wife Jessie Arms now by his side, the duo began a life long joint career, at times collaborating on mural projects.In 1919 Cornelis Botke and Jesse moved to Carmel, California, where Cornelis taught at Carmel Arts and Crafts. In 1920, they toured Europe. Returning home and finally settled in Santa Paula in Southern California in 1927, where they had a studio big enough to share. They were often commissioned together for very large works, usually murals.Cornelis Botke was predominantly a landscape painter in his singular work, and his pieces were displayed at the Los Angeles County Museum as well as the Art Institute of Chicago. Surviving murals of Botke's also exist in the Kellogg factory in Battle Creek, Michigan and the Ida Noyes Hall at the University of ChicagoThe Botkes were members of the California Art Club, the California Society of etchers, and the Foundation of Western Art. Cornelis exhibited his work at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and at the Art Institute in Chicago. Signed in pencil lower right. No. 15 of 50 impressions [Attributes: Signed Copy]

MATTHEWS, J.WIncwadi Yami., or Twenty Years&#39; Personal Experience in South Africa New York: Rogers & Sherwood,, 1887. Octavo. Original dark green decorative cloth, title and diamond device to the spine, and title and block of a Zulu chieftain to the upper board, both in gilt and black, pale green floral printed endpapers. Frontispiece and 30 plates, numerous illustrations to the text. Minor shelf-wear, fore-edge, endpapers and prelims. a little foxed, but overall a very good copy indeed. First US edition, perhaps with precedence over the UK edition of the same year. Matthews left Britain in 1864 as surgeon on the Tugela, an emigrant ship. On arrival he managed to obtain the post of District Surgeon of Victoria County, Natal. In 1871 he proceeded to the diamond fields, having already sent up an advance party under the geologist G.J. Lee, later Chairman of the Kimberley Mining Board, to work the mines. "The author was for many years closely identified with every social and political movement on the Fields, and his description of the diamond fields, and his references to the "Illicit Diamond Trade," are particularly interesting. There are particulars of "The Kimberley Company and Share Mania of 1881," "The Early History of the Diamond Fields," "An Account of the Black Flag Riot," together with sketches of the author&#39;s adventures in Basutoland, Swaziland, and the Transvaal, where he eventually settled" (Mendelssohn).

WHITMAN, WaltSpecimen Days in America London: Walter Scott. 1887. Second English edition, first issue. Newly revised by the author, with fresh preface and additional note. The Camelot Series. 12mo. [i-v] vi-x [xi-xii] [13] 14-312 [8]pp. (advertisements at the rear). Publisher&#39;s flexible full red leather, lettered in gilt, all edges gilt. Front joint professionally repaired with some residual wear at both joints and edges, rear free endpaper is detached and chipped at the edges, else very good. Inscribed on the half-title: "To Mr. Whitman of Philadelphia from Walt Whitman, June 1887." An early and interesting copy. Neither BAL or Myerson reference this binding. BAL specifies three primary bindings including red cloth, but red leather is not among them, and this is clearly a publisher&#39;s binding. Combined with the early inscription (the book was published in early June), this might be a previous unrecorded author&#39;s copy, or author&#39;s presentation issue. The fragile nature of the binding might account for it being unrecorded. Myerson A11.2.a1; BAL 21428. .

William Q. (Quan) Judge (ed.)The Path : A Magazine Devoted to the Brotherhood of Humanity, Theosophy in America, and the Study of Occult Science, Philosophy, and Aryan Literature : Volume 1, No. 1-12 (April 1886 - March 1887) in One Volume William Q. Judge 1887 - The first volume of the publication that brought theosophy to the attention of the American public. Originally owned by Jno. M. Wheeler, who pencilled his surname at top of front flyleaf and stamped "The Property of Jno. Wheeler. Please read and return PROMPTLY!" in several margins throughout the volume. The binding's morocco leather has dried out at the edges; corners bumped and worn; spine tips are worn, with the bottom spine tip (5/8" high) seemingly about to chip off; hinges cracked, holding; interior has light wear and several minor stains; pages at front and back have vertical crease. vi, 384 p., with a few illustrations. [m r 2] [Attributes: First Edition; Hard Cover]

INGOLDSBY,THOMASINGOLDSBY LEGENDS - (CRUIKSHANK,GEORGE)illus. INGOLDSBY LEGENDS or myths and marvels by Thomas Ingoldsby. London: Richard Bentley & Son 1887. Thick 8vo (6 1/4 x 8 1/2"), 546p., the Carmine Edition. Finely bound in full black hard- grain morocco with with seven characters from the book inlaid in multi- color leather (includes central figure of a devil, a witch, a friar and others). Raised bands on spine with an additional 4 inlaid color pictures in the compartments (witch's hat, candlestick, urn, miter), decorative gilt dentelles, silk doublures and endpapers. Illustrated with 20 fine full page steel engravings and a few smaller woodcuts by Cruikshank, Leech and Barham to accompany the stories from all three series. Laid in is a a FINE ORIGINAL PEN AND INK BY CRUIKSHANK showing an author seated at his desk with the menacing image of the devil looking at him in the window. [Attributes: Hard Cover]

BURTON, RICHARD, TRANSLATOR].The Beharistan (Abode of Spring). By Jami. A Literal Translation from the Persian. Benares: Printed by Kama Shastra Society for Private Subscribers Only, 1887. - One of several translations Burton did for the society founded by him and others to circumvent the Obscene Publications Act of 1857. ¦ From the inventory of Burton Weiss, Bookseller. 8vo, full vellum, gilt lettering. Penzer, page 177. Vellum a little soiled and creased at the spine; very good copy. [Attributes: First Edition; Hard Cover]

Shelley, Percy ByssheEpipsychidion - A Type Fac-Simile Reprint of the Original Edition First Published in 1821. With an Introduction by the Rev. Stopford A. Brooke and a Note by Algernon Charles Swinburne. Edited by Robert Alfred Potts London: For the Shelley Society, 1887 - One of 3 copies printed on vellum. 8vo. lxvi, 31, [3] pp. Original boards. Fine. With the bookplate of H. Buxton-Forman, President of the Shelley Society (which published the book). Graniss, pp. 66-67 [Attributes: Hard Cover]

Peake, Alfred S (editor)The Irish Chess Chronicle Wm McGee, Dublin 1887 - 108 pages with diagrams. Duodecimo (6 1/2" x 4") issued in original wrappers. Published fortnightly the first and fifteenth of the month. Volume 1, numbers 1 through 13. (Betts: 7-35) Not in Bibliotheca Van der Linde-Niemeijeriana. First edition. Includes chess problems as well as chess news with a heavy emphases on chess in Ireland. Condition: Volume one front page professionally repaired else a very good set of a scarce chess periodical. [Attributes: First Edition; Soft Cover]

GIBBS, J. [Josiah] Willard:On Multiple Algebra'. Pp. 37-66 in: Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Thirty-Fifth Meeting [Vol. XXXV], Buffalo, New York, August 1886. Salem: Permanent Secretary, January, 1887. - Entire volume offered. Original printed wrappers (edges neatly repaired). Very Good. Housed in a new, custom-made clamshell box, leather spine labels. An address by Gibbs, an AAAS Vice President, before the Section of Mathematics and Astronomy (Section A). 'The great merit and power of Grassmann's system, as set forth in Gibbs' address, lies in its generality and inclusiveness. It is in the recognition of different kinds of products that Grassmann's system differs most radically from the multiple algebras of the others, such as those of Hamilton and Pierce. And it was in connection with this concept of a plurality of multiplications that Gibbs founded his principal contributions to the subject. The development of the dyadic analysis undoubtedly forms Gibbs' most significant contribution to multiple algebra. His recognition of the key position of the indeterminate product in the Grassmannian system and its relation to the theory of matrices as well as his demonstration that both the algebraic and the external or combinatorial products could be derived from the indeterminate product, was an original contribution of great value' (Wheeler, Josiah Willard Gibbs, p. 113). According to Wheeler, Gibbs sent out 276 copies of the offprint, which was reset. [Attributes: First Edition; Soft Cover]

Sir Walter Grindley SimpsonThe Art Of Golf David Douglas 1887 - Joseph Murdoch describes this book as "one of the classic books of golf literature", and it is the first book to use photographs to demonstrate the swing, and also the first to show actual players in action on links courses, including "Old" Tom Morris. Sir Walter Simpson was a 19th century Scottish philosopher and a Captain of The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. He was one of the first people to define what was meant by a golf "links": "The grounds on which golf is played are called links, being the barren sandy soil from which the sea has retired in recent geological times. In their natural state links are covered with long, rank bent grass and gorse. Links are too barren for cultivation: but sheep, rabbits, geese and professionals pick up a precarious livelihood on them." First Edition. 8vo. xii + 186pp + one advertisement leaf. 20 plates, 10 diags, nuermous text illustrations, engraved title-page, lacks last page 185/186. Original upper board decorated with an engraving of the Winter Medal of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh. original lower board decorated with a pile of four golf balls, small mark to lower left portion. Rebacked in dark brown morocco, title in gilf lettering within a gilt panel on the spine. Corners somewhat bumped. Bright red end-papers. Small bookseller's sticker and small, ink, previous owner's inscription to half title with tape repair to join. Contents very clean and tight. A good copy. [D&M, 3860]

Chalmers GeorgeCaledonia, or, A historical and topographical Account of North Britain, from the most ancient to the present times with a Dictionary of Places chorographical and philological. volumes 1 -7 1887 - new edition published from 1887, 4 volume original now split into 7 books. pleasing hardbacks matching set - some wear or some splitting to seams. - generally fine. opening fold out map in vol 1 worn through at some seams but otherwise fine. vol 1 also has all 5 listed plates present. Vol 2 binding is firm enough but strings have loosened to allow the back board to noticeably pull. apart from some cover wear this set may have a mild occassional mark, one volume has a couple of pages with some background sunning where leaves have been pressed in it. but they are remarkably clean and contents will be considered as fair - good condition. [Attributes: Hard Cover]

SCOTT, William BellIllustrations to the King&#39;s Quair, of King James I of Scotland. Painted on the Staircase of Penkill Castle, Ayrshire. By... June 1865 to August 1868. Etched by him 1885 Edinburgh: Privately Printed by T. & A. Constable, 1887.. Limited edition, no. 97 of 110 india proofs, this copy inscribed from the artist to Lord Tennyson, folio, 17, (1) pp. Frontispiece and 5 plates, some minor bumping to edges, one text page browned. Loosely held in the original printed folder with ties, this with some marks and wear to corners. "The Kingis Quair" is 15th century poem attributed to James I of Scotland, after which Scott painted a series of murals in his home in Ayrshire. Colbeck p733.

Dostoyevsky, FyodorCrime and Punishment Vizetelly, 1887. Hardcover. Good. London: Vizetelly, [1887?]. 456 p. Russet paper-covered boards with blue and red lettering. First British edition, early printing. Correct first in the English language. (Undated title page. Later state ads at verso of title page. See Line, Ettlinger and Gladstone&#39;s Bibliography of Russian Literature for basic, although incomplete, bibliography.) Good condition. Clean text. Binding separating between spine and front cover; front hinge a bit weak. Creasing and chipping to spine, bumped and worn corners. Front end paper corner torn, offsetting to yellow endpapers. Light staining to fore edge. Good condition overall. An early appearance of Dostoevsky&#39;s classic Crime and Punishment in the English language, first issued in the UK before the slightly more common American edition of Crowell. Extremely rare.